Anime: Attack On Titan Ep 21: Crushing Blow: 57th Expedition (5)

Sweet lovely God YES!  This is when things get both ugly and still keep wringing the feels out of us as an audience.  Now a quick comparison to the manga is spot on here but I can tell you that it is immensely satisfying to see it in anime and the shock of emotions just hits you right in the old ticker.

I have heard a few friends grumble that these mini-arcs are getting a bit drawn out but I counter that with the emotional impact you feel in this episode.

For the audience we have only just met and started to get to know Capt. Levi's squad, Levi himself and other members of the Recon Corps we still getting glimpses of regardless of relation to Eren it seems.  The squad assigned to Eren though, we have seen in flashback and in present the character of these 4 individuals.

Eld, Petra, Oluo, and Gunther have come alive for us thanks to this slow burn in both the manga and the anime.  Thus when the Female Titan makes its alarming suicide by Titan call, we are left feeling tense as Erwin outlines the true terror of the 3 Titans that for sure breached Wall Maria 5 years ago.

Eren is in many ways a novice and using him as an example of what happens to humans that can turn into Titans had been a terrible miscalculation.  Now the Female Titan, in the clothes of the Recon Corps, hunts Eren in the chaos of the retreat.

Armin reveals to Jean the terrible truth also that the only reason the Titans had not pressed Wall Rose during Trost was that one of the members who had witnessed the awesome power of Eren was the Female Titan.  All these facts begin to point to dark facts Jean does not want to face, but Armin seems to have accepted very quickly.

That moment shows a lot of strength in Armin, he may not have the physical prowess of Mikasa or Eren, but in tactical and analytical thinking he is much more ready to deal with hard facts and revelations than the others.  Fighting monsters can be easier since you are fighting to stay alive, but to keep thinking about them and fighting them or their potential allies in your head must take a level of courage that is impossible to not admire.

Of course these short diversions do not last and we come back to the squad and Eren as they find a stranger approaching dressed like one of them.

Without warning as happened at the end of last episode, Gunther is brutally killed.  Eren is left shocked and confused while the others try to keep him moving to HQ.  The ferocity of the attacker is just as terrible, if in a different way, as the Female Titan.

Despite being outnumbered, the traitor cannot be touched by the experienced Levi squad.  Worse they put 2 and 2 together just as the Female Titan is reborn!

Once more Eren faces the choice to use his power or not, and again Petra implores him to trust in his comrades.  Again Eren struggles, but this time he seems to embrace the faith in his friends and wishes them luck.

Unlike any of the other squads, we see what makes Levi's squad so different.  Even though the Female Titan seemed to kill the others so easily, suddenly she is on the defensive.  Instead of attacking directly as they would any other Titan, the 3 remaining members perfectly coordinate a brutal offensive that blinds and maims the Titan.

However, despite their clear power and prowess, Eren remembers Levi's words.  That no one can know the consequences of their actions until they occur.  He turns in mid-air just as his world is shattered once more.

Viciously we see the Female Titan kill Eld after regenerating a single eye.  Petra and Oluo are also brutally slain right in front of Eren.  The punch of those moments make you feel as Eren screams out his Goal and bites his flesh to become an avenger.

Still terribly wounded, the Female Titan does masterfully to stay out of Eren's reach at first, but the enraged soldier will not stop at anything less than her destruction.  Admitting that his choice resulted in the deaths of his comrades, he still swears to avenge them all.

We see why the enemy Titans want Eren so badly, as even as a novice and the Female Titan improves as she heals, he seems incredibly more powerful than her.  Just as it seems Eren might get his wish, the Female Titan does a move the freezes Eren in place in shock.

Too late to react she smashes the top of his Titan head off and before any chance of regeneration can occur, she rips his neck apart and swallows him whole.

This last part in front of Mikasa sends the young woman in a swift dip into despair and then we see both the rage and even scarier prowess she seems to have been born with.  Where squad Levi had put the Female Titan on the defensive, the lone Mikasa sends the Titan to its knees.

Despite her effort however, the hardening the Female Titan can do still thwarts her.  The weak spot is all that need protecting so long as that is safe, the Titan can regenerate.  Following the now slowed Titan, Mikasa is joined by Levi who orders her to stop leaping blindly and follow at a distance.

We are left with Levi asking Mikasa if Eren is alive since he saw the Titan body after looking at each of his murdered men.  Despite the feelings we know Levi has for his comrades, he remains detached for now.

The pace of the anime and the manga allows us to really feel for the myriad characters that are lost to the Titans, no matter how trivial this story does a phenomenal job of making you connect with characters and rooting for them to survive.  In this episode we saw Eren suffer a loss perhaps as bad as when he was forced to watch his mother die 5 years ago.

This time he had the power but made the choice to trust his comrades to fight on their own.  The next few episodes will be just as jarring and I now highly suspect where this season will end...aside from all of us screaming at our screens to keeping going I mean!  Till next time!

Series Review: Sword Art Online Ep 1-14 : MASSIVE SPOILERS!

Not exactly going to blow socks off here but I have seen more than enough asking about it that I will give myself up as a resource for this show as well.

Hands down, no question or doubt in my mind, if you have a desire to see the best Anime can do, WATCH THIS SERIES!  I have to try really really hard to find people that dislike this series at all.

If you have heard of dotHack or Accel, you know a version of this idea, but I assure you SAO stands alone!

We start with our MC, a young boy who puts on a helmet after watching the release of a hyped VMMORPG Sword Art Online on his computer.  It all seems near future and it does give the year up as 2023.  The helmet still plugs in with an ethernet jack so we know this is the VR Nerve gear.

After a fairly decent log in procedure, we are into the gaming world of SAO, a place where there is no magic but Sword Arts.  As explained by the MC, Kirito, add a pause to your move and feel the skill charge to unleash it.

For anyone that has wanted to play MMOs this series has done a masterful job of creating a level based game that would interest us without question VR or not I am thinking.  For an introduction we meet Klein and Kirito walks him through his first lessons on how to play SAO.

The above image is right after the dark twist of SAO is revealed to the 10,000 players logged in.  There is no logout button, in fact there is no way out safely except to clear the game.  The creator gathers all the players at the Town of Beginnings where he as a giant hooded wizard tells them the grisly fate they are in.

If you die in the game, you die in real life.  If the helmet is removed, you die, and any PvP combat can also kill you outside of the Towns.  At first no one wants to believe, but Kirito reveals that the how of the Nerve Gear could in fact do exactly as outlined.  If the safety was removed the helmet could fry a human brain to death!

Right after that Kayaba Akihiko tells them to look at their inventories and an item changes the avatars into their real selves.  This has the double effect of confusion and trauma for many players but cements for Kirito that SAO is now real.  He can die here and he refuses to give in.

After this start time begins to move a bit more fluidly.  The Beta Testers, over 1000 of them, are generally disliked or distrusted because they left the 9000 new players on the first day to level up and get stronger faster.  Kirito is one of them and has survived the first 2 months when the first boss fight is revealed to happen.  He has played alone and thus when told to form a group by Diabel, he snags the nearest cloaked player also alone.

Despite good team work, the first boss fight claims the leader, who was a Beta Tester as well and had attempted to get a rare item with his edge of knowledge on what happens after defeating a boss.  However SAO is not done with its lethal twists, despite fighting this creature in the Beta, apparently that means little.  Only Kirito sees the danger and too late warns the others.  Together with Asuna and the rest of the party they finally defeat the first boss.

Revealed for what he is, Kirito faces accusers by claiming he knows far more than any mere Beta Tester and gains the title Beater.  Up to that point 2000 people have died but now there is hope that the game can be cleared to floor 100.

Also up to this point it is much how any MMO would be, players finding their way, some learning they have powerful skills like Asuna and ones like Kirito who help the other players with advice and his skill from the Beta.  In any other game this would be fun and enjoyable, but in this game their lives are on the line and nerves taut always.

As this part of the story progresses we follow Kirito almost exclusively and we see him fight alone and with others against the nightmare of reality in a video game.  By making death mean the same as in reality, all of these players are forced to make literally life and death choices they never prepared to make.

For a time Kirito even joins a small guild, despite being far more powerful, he yearns for the personal contact they all share.  We see the chance at smiles even in the depths of worry.  However we also see how quickly tragedy can destroy players in this new world.  Kirito is forced to watch helpless as people he swore to protect are killed before him in a trap.

Driven by grief to the first Christmas season in Aincrad, he learns of a boss that may drop a resurrection item and acting nearly suicidal he goes to face it.  In this moment we see Klein again trying to reason with his friend but support him when less generous Guilds follow them to the boss.

Just when we think Kirito may follow other players to suicide, one of the Guildmates he lost, Sachi, has a message delivered to him.  She had accepted the likely possibility she would die in SAO and that Kirito would blame himself for it.  In a supremely human moment she sings a song to him via a recording and Kirito finds a will to live again.

Now known as the solo player Black Swordsman of the Front Lines, Kirito throws his all into defeating SAO and freeing other players.  However unlike many of the other FL players, he seems to still take a very human interest in others.  He lives in Aincrad, not just surviving in it.

This is exemplified by meeting an animal tamer who needs a little help.  Silica is a young girl who has been made into a mascot many times but took for granted her dragon Pina's abilities to protect her.  Kirito helps her while hunting Titan's Hand, an orange guild of player hunters.  The whole thread shows how the players behind the FL continue to live and strive despite players that live in denial of the reality of Aincrad.

After this we come back to Kirito on the FL with Asuna who is now a famous player in the Guild Knights of the Bloodoath.  The most powerful guild drives the FL forward but Kirito finds some of their tactics inhuman and while he understands it, often walks his own path.

He and Asuna renew their contact in a rather humorous way, Kirito convinces her to actually enjoy the good weather and take a nap!  Of course this leads to even more revelations during an investigation that showed the darker side after more than a year in the game, sleep PKs now occur and Murder Guilds exist like Laughing Coffin.

Kirito and Asuna face a murder conspiracy and she learns a great deal about how to actually have time to enjoy being alive no matter she is trapped inside the game thanks to Kirito.  In fact we begin to see Kirito being something of an inspiration to other players, where he is still quite dour most of the time, he still helps them and connects with them.

Even as things seem to be settling for Kirito, he commissions a new sword from a blacksmith that is as strong as the best magic drop sword in the game.  This small side adventure shows how much growth Kirito has been through since the dark tragedy of his lost guild, where once he might have been oblivious or allowed others to be in emotional pain, now he seeks them out to help as best he can.

The last few episodes have some of the best action and the most heart rending moments for this part of the story.  It has been nearly 2 years since the game began, 4000 people have died and they are just now closing in on the 74th floor boss.

Kirito finds a rare ingredient that only Asuna can cook and we see them have a rather nice dinner and the first non-battle moment we have truly seen in SAO...minus a small knife threat to get Kirito to party up with Asuna.  It is clear Asuna is questioning the direction her guild is going in now to clear the game, much as Kirito once voiced concerns.

After a confrontation with her bodyguard, the two head to the 74th dungeon where neither seems terribly taxed but Kirito appreciates having a competent partner along.  Of course for him the best moment is more of Asuna's cooking!

We finally get Klein and Asuna to meet as well in this dungeon by fluke.  Where the light hearted gathering of friends might have been enough, we instead see the ultimate test of Kirito.   A group of the Liberation Army appear and demand the map data to the boss room Kirito and Asuna have just seen.

Though they are warned to not face it, the Army heads towards their goal anyway.  Kirito surprises his friends by saying they should keep an eye on them and we see that Klein already knows Asuna has her heart set on him.

Despite working quickly the group hear the screams of the Army and rush to see what has happened.  The boss room is like the fateful trap that killed Kirito's one time guild, no teleport stones work here!

Once more we see how the characters have changed.  Once, Asuna would have coldly accepted the loss of the Army because of their foolishness, but Kirito has shown her what it means to be alive again and she rushes in to save the dying men.  Kirito of course does not even pause to follow and Klein resignedly follows as well.

While Kirito and Asuna desperately buy time to get the Army out, they are easily being over powered by the boss.  Kirito thinks he may have a way out for them all but wonders if he has to make that step and commit what may be near suicide after wanting to live.

He sees all the players about to die around him and accepts it is no time to be timid.  After Klein and Asuna buy him time, the solo Beater reveals his unique skill he alone possesses, Dual-Wield.   Rather than a shield and sword user as is typical for one hand blades, Kirito has the ability to wield two swords.  With his newly crafted sword and his usual black one he takes on the boss alone.

For any action lovers this moment is flat out awesome!  For those looking for that emotional punch to the gut, you are not disappointed.  The desperation is palpable, the shock of the others is spine tingling, and the feeling of powerful attacks shakes your bones!

Just barely does Kirito pull off a miracle, and a slim margin of HP to spare, he defeats the 74th boss.  After this things begin to fly forward.

Asuna declares her feelings in as much she wishes to leave the guild, but Kirito has to face Commander Heathcliff to allow that.  The unexpected PvP fight ends with Kirito as a member of KoB but that is short lived as the bodyguard he humiliated tries to kill him.

While it is unclear if had been hunting Asuna to begin with, Kuradeel definitely wants Kirito dead.  Instead he is slain by a wounded Kirito bare handed after losing the other hand to his sword.

After the bloody fights and tumultuous changes, Kirito and Asuna find love for each other and if you do not shed a tear or crack a smile during their moments we get to see, you have no soul!  Even as they take a break from the FL to enjoy their newly found relationship, and their honeymoon for their game marriage, SAO continues to throw surprises at them.

They encounter a broken AI, Yui, whom they adopt as their daughter for a short time and reveals the truth about how SAO is being run without human intervention.  Just when we seem to have yet another tragedy, we see Kirito in a much more reality based skill, save his newly adopted daughter from deletion by Cardinal, the AI system in charge of Aincrad.  He uses a GM console to shard her core program to his Nerve Gear, thus when the game is cleared she will be saved.

The final stretch of this part will rip your heart out and set your teeth on edge.  After winning a rather interesting fishing contest, the two warriors are summoned back to the FL to face the 75th boss.

He is a lovely one isn't he?

Before this battle both Asuna and Kirito give extremely emotional revelations and speeches to each other and a neighbor from their cottage by the lake.   Once again if you do not cry or feel a massive tug in the region known as the human heart, you seriously have no soul.

Vowing to protect they other, they go into battle with many of their long time friends in SAO and on the FL now.  Egil, Klein and his guild, and the rest of KoB.  The battle is brutal and over 14 players die.

It is a shock to them because since floor 67 there have only been the 3 deaths from the foolish Army encounter Kirito had for the boss fights.

Suddenly Kirito puts many pieces together as he glances across the exhausted players and sees a barely winded and only half health Commander Heathcliff standing strong.

Kirito charges explosively across the room and just as his sword would scratch the Commander's face, a purple icon appears with shocking words, "Immortal Object."

Kirito reveals that the most powerful player is actually the architect of all their fates, Kayaba Akihiko himself!  Despite the dark results of the game, all he does is paralyze everyone but Kirito and himself.

He reveals that if they had gotten to floor 100, he would have been the final boss of the game.  Because Kirito deduced his identity, and because the Dual-wielder is the one considered by Heathcliff to be the "hero" of the story, he offers Kirito the chance to end the game now.

Despite ardent begging from Asuna, Egil, and Klein, Kirito goes to face the author of all their fates to this point.  While the battle goes similar to the arena fight, it is clear Kayaba had been holding back before.

Just when we think this story will take a very dark twist, Asuna overcomes the paralyzed stated and dies in Kirito's arms.  All the fight goes out of him, but he picks up her sword and seems to allow Kayaba to slay him.

Just as all seems lost, something odd happens.  Kirito suddenly decides not to let it end just yet, not to let this game dictate anymore how people will die so far from love and family.  He runs Kayaba through and we see both die in a sparkle of pixels.

The whole of SAO hears the decry that the game is cleared and we see a flash of every character not at the boss fight looking up at what I presume to be the final pixels of Kirito's life.

That would have been a fine place to leave us hanging, could have ended it there and most would have been wild with emotions but would have known to jump to Lightnovel or manga for answers.

Instead they took a right hook beautifully and delivered an emotional whammy like no other.  Kirito opens his eyes in the sky and finds Asuna there with him, looking at the end of Aincrad.

They meet the real Kayaba, no Heathcliff avatar, and discuss the point of 4000 people dying in this game.  Instead of parting as bitter enemies, it almost feels like a parting of friends.  Kayaba vanishes and leaves the two alone to face the end of the world.

This moment between them, if you do not shed a tear or reach for a loved one, check your pulse and find out when you died!  It is a beautiful and well delivered moment and it is believable above all else!

Again they could have left us here and we would have been happy, hell I would have still been clapping, but just when it all seems resolved and things have a sad but sweet end.

Kirito wakes up in the real world!  Not only that but he gets his emaciated body up on one single thought.  Asuna!  Using his IV as a walking stick he rolls into the hospital hall with that goal and rolls the credit song.

That is the end of part 1.....I am not kidding!  Go watch it, even with all I have said you WILL find yourself a gibbering wreck of hope, tears, and roaring for Kirito to win every time you watch!

I will do a part 2 on ALO arc because I think it deserves its own and is the harder of the two parts for people to like.  Sword Art Online is the best people...go watch it!

Anime: Railgun S Ep 19: Academic Reach Assembly

This sticks to the sweet change of pace as the previous episode.  We pick up right where we left off, with Saten asking Febri to say anything she knows and she says Misaka Mikoto and little else.

Despite attempts by all of the group to delve for more, Febri acts much like the young girl you would expect, and attaches to Saten like glue!  She also seems to be somewhat afraid of Misaka despite earnest and honest attempts to be nice to her.

Indeed that is a rather interesting bit of the mystery, to all the characters she meets in the episode, Febri instantly bonds and likes them, but she continues to fear Misaka even with no reason for it, nor does she reveal any more of why she even knows that name.

Of course despite the light hearted moments, we continue with The Evil Minions of Arrogance (that is my own name for the 6 lab techs that are just begging for exposure to the Railgun attack in my opinion).  They seem to know something about the young girl and I get the feeling whatever they know it cannot be anything good.

However before that gets far we see the continued preparation for the Assembly and it is revealed to be both dull and a security headache.  I suspect it is not just a backdrop but more to come for the Railgun side of the story we did not get to see so much of in Index.

During Saten's attempt to get Misaka and Febri on better terms, Misaka accidentally let's the little girl do what little girls are famous for, chasing giant Gekotas!  A pursuit by the group is actually quite mundane compared to what they have dealt with before, a lost child while stressful and nerve wracking, cannot quite compare to tacking on the top Level 5 to save 10000 of your clone Sisters I am thinking.

Still, the end does have a twist in several ways that I look forward to hearing explained.  And of course the Pricks in Labcoats now know Railgun is with Febri and seem to want to include her in on their as yet unexplained experiment.  It sounds like things may pick up in the next episode but my nerves are liking the break from before too right now.

Given what Index did have happen there is a LONG road ahead for Misaka and company yet, and Toma should be back before long too.  The ride continues on this fantastic series!

[Anime] Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou/ Dog & Scissors Ep 2

Strike While the Dog is Hot

When I didn't think that this anime could get any weirder, it just keeps spiraling into madness. The police, having not found the culprit who shot our main character, have mostly given up. MURDER is afoot, people! Deal with it!

So, Kirihime convinces Kazuhito to go back to his apartment. Along the way they run into a pop idol who hates Kirihimie. Nothing really becomes of the encounter because Kirihime walks right by her and she is carted off by her bodyguards. It's probably going to be a running gag of some sort. It seems to random otherwise.

At the apartment, it is discovered that Kazuhito used one apartment for books and lived in the other. They go to investigate the storage space and Surprise! The murderer has been living there!

After chasing him awhile (he murdered someone, why are we just running after him?) they have a confrontation on a bridge. He's been reading all of Kazuhito's books! He can't go to prison before the last in his new favorite series is released! He's so entrenched in the canon of those books, he makes some of the fictional fighting styles and moves come to life! And so they defeat him. Weird, but, Kirihime has a little bit of inspiration to write again, even if it isn't the last of her great erotic epic.

This series is like crack, that is all.

Anime: Attack on Titan Ep 20: Erwin Smith: 57th Expedition (4)

This episode is one I have been awaiting, there is one other in particular I look forward to but I suspect that will be next season.

This is not one of the flashier ones for Attack on Titan but if gives a lot of what appeals to me in this show.  Humanity on so many levels it actually makes one's head hurt to think on it.  There is no cut and dried, no good or evil, there is just a lot of unfair life and dealing with nightmares on top of regrets if you survive.

We come back where we left off, the Female Titan devastating the Recon Corps is finally brought to a standstill in the prepared trap of a few hundred 3D gear hooks.  Once again this Titan protects where Cmdr Erwin and Eren know a human nests inside of it.

Unlike Eren however, this one has a great deal more tricks and control it seems.  Attempts to remove who is inside are frustrated by a surprising ability to mimic the Armored Titan's shell, but only for a small while.

Time, however, is very short outside the Walls for mankind.  As Erwin has his men prepare a desperate attempt to get at his enemy, we see the various MCs analyze the plan they unwittingly participated in.  Armin makes a very firm argument about the choice made to keep all but a very few in the dark about the true plan, while Eren gets a more detailed look at who is trusted and who isn't.

We see a wide gamut of emotions and revelation about each personal character, and even side characters make you sympathize and relate very well.  All of that however is the meat of this series, the monsters and the situation are their world yes, but the characters are what drives this series and we get a nice shot in the arm of those moments.

Sasha even gets a much more solid moment with Mikasa when things do not quite go the way Erwin hoped.  The fact that Mikasa accepts her assessment and states clearly that Sasha's instincts are unnervingly dead on gives an even higher stamp of approval.

Just when things seem to be completely lost for the goals of the 57th expedition, and by extension Eren himself, Erwin gives Levi some strange orders.  We are left with a quite shocking cliff hanger but thankfully next week will bring this expedition very close to finished.

There are some really intense moments ahead but this whole expedition lays stunning ground work for what is to come.  I recommend that even though they give us reviews at the start, to watch them all again once this short arc concludes.  Assuming you have read the manga I think most would agree that some serious WTF moments are coming.

[Anime] Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou/ Dog & Scissors: Ep 1

Every Dog Has His Day

You guys, I relate to the protagonist so much, it hurts. While he might be completely into erotic fiction, I find that I have the same feels over several different author works. Imagine if I were to die before A Song of Ice and Fire was finished and I never got to read it! Ah!

Anyway, this guy, this hermit guy who sits at home and reads and reads and reads to bursting, is at a diner one day minding his own business.  A robber violently holds up the restaurant. During an altercation between a girl in another booth, who clearly gives no fucks about the robber and continues furiously writing, our main character is shot in the head.

But, he doesn't want to die, he want's to finish the last in his favorite series and it hasn't even been published yet! His will for erotic literature is so strong that he is reborn as a small wiener dog. Where he is stuck in a cage and cared for by a man with an afro and given nothing to read.

The girl from the diner can hear him in her head and comes to adopt him and be perfectly creepy about it.

He still laments over his books. But, surprise! She has a huge library and in a double shymalan, she's his favorite writer. So he demands she finish the book, but she has no inspiration. Her life is full of interesting outlets in order for her to learn about the world and write well rounded people, but there's no spark. Well, without that book, he's not dying so he hunkers down and makes the best of it.

Agh! This anime is so weird. Indescribable! Fun, but way out there. All of the dog's emotions are expressed in his hair tuft. Flashbacks to his human form show him in very little detail. The author is a wacky sadist, or perhaps just an author? She's way weird, either way.

Highly recommended just on how weird it is. Going to keep going with this one.

[Anime] Gin no Saji/ Silver Spoon Ep 1

Welcome to Ezono!

This anime involves lots and lots of farming. Which, I guess is new and different? A bit of a strange concept.

After failing all the entrance exams to school's he'd much rather go to, Yugo Hachiken, runs away from home and enrolls into Ezo Agricultural High School. I don't know if he thought it was going to be an easy ride or what but he quickly finds out that it's not.

 He also immediately gets lost in the woods on school grounds after chasing a calf out of the cattle barn.

After being assigned to a five man team he starts doing chores around the farm and finds out that chickens eggs come from their 'anus', which is clearly wrong. He's super hung up on it, refusing to eat eggs until the end of the episode and then declaring them the tastiest thing to come out of the 'anus'.

He's clearly inept at the country life and needs a bird anatomy lesson.

So, that dish where they mix a raw egg in with rice, they just eat it like that? I had to google it, because raw eggs seems like a poor idea. How much salmonella do they get? It doesn't seem like the rice is warm enough to cook the egg. Yech. I guess they don't even care if the egg is cooked. The less cooked the better. :\

So, anyway. For a slice of life anime, this was actually pretty cute and a somewhat different concept. Pearls of wisdom fall from the most unlikely of mouths and shenanigans are plentiful. I immediately recommended this to a friend who is really into agriculture and she watched all the available episodes. I've been assured that it continues to grow and get better as it goes along. I won't put this high on my watch list, but I will keep it in mind.

RWBY Ep 6: Emerald Forest

FINALLY, longer episode!  Sorry I had to get that out, moving on.  We left poor Weiss facing a back of rather large and angry looking bear type creatures (certainly not like the wolves from the trailers).

Rather than hop back at that point, we instead find Yang wandering the forest looking for Ruby.  This falls right in line with her character so far, she clearly enjoyed her trip down and only then thought to look for her sister without considering she probably was far passed any of the other students.

Even so it shows she was willing to be her partner if found.  Instead she finds a pair of the monsters lurking in the forest.  Once more we see a very relaxed acceptance from her.  It almost seems like nothing can phase her...until a single hair is swiped from her mane.

Like the trailer we see her explode into action and thrash one of the creatures and eagerly look to go after the next.  Of course that is the cue for the entrance of Blake.  This pairing was expected of course but still it happened in a way I did not foresee at all.

Both seem quite accepting and we flash away.  We are back to Pyrrha and Jaune wandering the woods but unlike the other 2 pairs, they seem quite safe.  The seemingly clueless Jaune does what some might consider typical antics following the much more impressive Pyrrha, but she reveals a new layer to this story.

The way the people here use their weapons and fight the monsters of Grim is with not just Dust, but Aura as well.  Actually this makes a nice addition, Aura is the source and Dust a catalyst for more powerful effects or the weapons as well in this case.

I will not even attempt to sum up what happened between them as it is far more fun to watch it, but I think we saw more than just an explanation for the audience that will have repercussions for these two later.

During her talk with Jaune we see the final pair we were introduced to, Ren and Nora, come together as well.  Again I will not spoil that either as it is far more entertaining to watch.

Ruby and Weiss do get to have their moment as well, but they are not having as good a time as the others.  Ruby actually stands up to Weiss this time in the area she is most confident, her battle skills.  Still it is nice that they still have to work on this, it is not just sympatico out the gate for all involved.

The episode is laced with a lot of hints and possible threads that we are just starting to see even for the characters we have the most exposure to.  I will say I have been looking forward to this kind of leap for awhile and it makes me very happy to see it.

Next week will likely not give many answers but I begin to see that while the source material may be Grimm Fairy Tales, the RT crew has something cooking and Monty really has me wondering what all this means.  That is a good thing to cultivate, an audience wanting to know more!

[Anime] Free! Iwatobi Swim Club Ep 1

Starting Block of Reunions!

Decided to watch this anime, or at least the first episode, because of the awkward pinup style photos of it online. They seriously draw in all the muscles and it makes the characters look a little freakish. When they're wearing clothes, they're shaped like normal anime guys. Take those clothes off, and you've got some crazy definition that looks pretty out of place.

Anyway, it's a slice of life anime about four friends who really like swimming. Life takes them on separate paths and so the story starts with the main character Haruka remembering the past fondly. His other friend from the club, Makoto, picks him up for school where they run into their old swimming buddy Nagisa, who has recently transferred back.

Nagisa is the chibi-face, adorable one of the group. This makes the muscular juxtaposition even weirder, at least for his character. Anyway, Nagisa really wants to swim with his friends like before and also wants to dig up their swimming memory time capsule. The capsule has a trophy they won with the fourth member of their group, Rin, before he moved to Australia (to go to swimming school, I guess, because that's a thing?) and before their beloved swimming club went down the crapper.

So, they wander a bit, and talk about their feels, to their old pool and find, shocker, RIN! Who is really a big jerkface and challenges Haruka to a race. Now, Haruka always wears his swimming pants(?), I'm not really sure what to call them. They're like professional swimmer leggings. His are only shorts, but clearly Rin also always wears his and his are long pants. I'm not going to think about this too hard. Maybe he has extra swim pants like underwear. Perhaps he carries them with him to change once he gets the one pair wet. The implications that he never takes them off ever, even in the tub, just disturbs me. That's a lot of smegma, sir. Also, on putting back on real pants over them, wouldn't that just create wet pants forever? I am really trying hard not to think about it, but it is just too weird.

But, I digress. THE POOL IS EMPTY. So, they don't actually race. But it turns out Rin already dug up their trophy and drops it on the ground as he leaves. Not in a cool, drop the mic way, just in a nonchalant, over the shoulder, 'meh' way. This gives Nagisa feels.

So there's this girl that keeps showing up, she's got a manly name, for manly things. She's Rin's sister, who tells the gang that Rin is attending a different school. Makoto and Nagisa basically convince Haruka to go to the school by telling him he can swim in their pool, to which, upon arrival, he promptly strips to his leggings. They don't invade the pool immediately, but instead creep around until everyone leaves and then trespass. The two who don't constantly wear swimming gear decide to skinny dip and it's a grand time until Rin shows up and orders them to leave.

Haruka then challenges Rin to a race.

And then the end credits start. And really, I laughed my way through the end credits because of boy bands and desert harems.

The anime wasn't as homoerotic as this ending suggests. Does this count as lady fanservice? I'm so used to giant boobs and panty shots.

[Anime] Kami-sama no Inai Nichoiyoubi/Sunday Without God: Ep 3

Valley of Death (3)

Horray, there's a flashback, and it shows Ai's mother. Who, yep, pretty much just looks like an older version of Ai. She seems so happy and functional. It's surprising that she was a grave-keeper, as she is much more vibrant and energetic, even in these flashback stills, than Scar ever could dream of being. Ai's mother expresses her want to make the village a safe haven, or a heaven, here on earth for those that were dead. She just want's them to be happy.

On the normal timeline, it is revealed that Hampnie, although immortal, basically is looking for a way to kill himself. In no way does he want to be the last human being on earth. The thought of it disturbs him so deeply that he starts to shake Ai with a fervor. And just as Ai has decided again that Hampnie sucks, he places a boot in her back and kicks her off the precarious, canyon spanning bridge they were in the midst of crossing.

Ai comes to later on, with Julie, who fished her out of the river and set her clothes to dry. Julie reveals that Hampnie kicked Ai off the bridge in order to save her from the undead ambush that subsequently got him captured. Julie has a picture of the woman that Hampnie refers to periodically, the one he has been wandering around looking for, and he called fat. He calls her Hana, but it is clearly a picture of Ai's mother.

Anyway, they go to rescue Hampnie from the crazies. Scar appears suddenly and accompanies them. Hampnie's captives are pretty wacky. As the entourage comes to save the day, Ai reveals that she is his daughter and that the town she lived in was full of dead people pretending to be alive to keep her happy. And, after murdering everyone, Hampnie dies for real because of wish fulfillment or some other such bogus nonsense.

So, he wakes back up, undead and he and Ai have a day of father daughter bonding which ends with her burying him and essentially killing him and sobbing into a dirt pile. And so she vows to save the world from whatever it is that's going on with it and goes off with Julie and Scar.

This three episode arc was awesome. I would gladly have had the anime end here. It showed heart and insight and interesting characters. It embraced its tropes but crashed through others. I loved every minute watching it. It would have made a great OVA, but the fact that there are more episodes is also intriguing. Though, why there is a VW bus, I have no idea. Everything looks so plebeian otherwise. I'm going to keep going. But, had this been how it ended, perfection.

[Anime] Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi/Sunday Without God: Ep 2

Valley of Death (2)

The name of the new, monochrome grave-keeper is Scar. After asking her a few questions, Hampnie tasks her with burying the townsfolk for realsies, as if all Ai did was pretend to bury them. Scar, in her awesomely chipper yet horrifically vapid voice informs Hampnie that the townsfolk were buried properly. See, jerk? Ai is actually a grave-keeper. Sheesh.

Hampnie, although surprised, simply starts interrogating Ai on her plans for the future. He pulls out a gun and threatens to blow her head off, but a shot from out of nowhere interrupts his murderous rampage. The man with the awesome sniper shot is Julie, Hampnie's childhood friend.

Julie and Hampnie had a falling out over Julie's dead wife. Julie had hidden her and his daughter away from the rest of the world after she died, living for over a year in solitude until Hampnie came along and finished the job.  Hampnie deduces that Julie's daughter also died and instead of committing suicide, has come to seek revenge or to die trying.

Hampnie, having just survived a shot through the lung, claims to be immortal and accepts a duel between himself and Julie. Though, he never shows up for it. Instead, he leaves and Ai follows. Hampnie decided, that due to Ai's age, she must be a grave-keeper/human hybrid.

Hampnie has a lot of theories it seems, especially about God. God had apparently grown weary with dealing with the human race and started just granting wishes whimsically. This was how the humans gained eternal life and how Hampnie himself gained immortality. Hampnie also noticed that if a person was dead long enough, they would degrade to monstrous state, and so he vowed to bring them down. This was his reason for rekilling Julie's wife.

Ai still doesn't understand about her town and why he killed all of them and he pretty much just blows her off and tells her she'll find out eventually. His hair holds so many secrets! It's not even that big!

Anyway, obvious plot points are obvious, but I'll let the story tell itself.

Anime: Railgun S: Ep 18: Moving

We start this episode off with a bang, literally.  ITEM seems to be in the middle of a robot brawl stating they had "orders" to go there, yet we see some lab/tech types observing it all.  Surprisingly they are satisfied with a scratch on Meltdowner.

Just when we seemed to have all the answers from the Sisters, it would seem something else is brewing.

Now we hop to the more mundane, but welcome respite of Misaka and Co, pictured above, getting ready to welcome the rescued child Banri from her long stay at the hospital.  As one of the children that was the main focus of the first season, this actually makes a nice thread that resolves the side characters focus quite nicely for us.

We see Uriharu, normally so quiet and going with the flow of events, has quietly helped her current friend Erii, and the long time friend of Banri, of moving in together after the release.  She did not even tell Saten what she was doing until Erii herself brought it up.

Most of the episode is like that, a very sweet bow on the long road for Banri to reach the end of her trials.  Unfortunately it is not all smiles and smooth sailing for Uriharu and Kuroko.

Something messed with the traffic signal system and they had to cut out most of the fun part of the day to do Judgment duties, of which Uriharu insisted on helping when the others were willing to let her stay for the celebrations they had planned.

Erii points out, as does Banri, that this is part of why they like Uriharu so much, that she never stops being a good friend and does her duty all at once.  There are quite a few touching moments and for long time followers a bit of emotional payoff with Uriharu, Erii, and even Saten's part in the story.  

Understandably while this episode does wrap up that thread for now, it opens whole new vistas and states literally for the audience an experience Misaka already has gone through several times.

Early in the episode we see the ever so arrogant, but still good intentioned, Kongo.  Something we have seen happen many times, a small time crook crosses the path of an esper...some hilarity ensues and day saved right?  Yes and no.  One of the sinister lab monkies (they really rubbed me the wrong way as characters) confronts Kongo about her faith in her ability to solve problems.

It is clearly stated how she did not think through all the consequences of her actions, even though it all turned out fine this time, it is not a cure-all solution.  Despite his horrible vibe, he DOES have a point.  The entirety of Academy City hinges on one thing, the espers can solve the problems completely and as safely as possible for all involved.  Tree Diagram is gone for now so that leave Judgment and Antiskill to keep things going smoothly to the best of their ability.

Kongo is left with clear doubt in her mind about the confidence in her ability and its use, but the mysterious minion of arrogant lab flunky disappears when Antiskill is on the way.

At the end we see a character we got a glimpse of but only now get to see napping in a flower bed of all things!  She is found, of course, but the quartet of Academy City.  The young blonde child is very quiet once she wakes up, and only Saten gets her name after going down to her level.

Febri answers the request to tell of anything she knows with just a single name....Misaka Mikoto.  And while that would be enough to bring any of us back even without a preview, the show is not done yet.

Instead of a preview of the next episode, we get an epilogue.  The lab is back with 6 flunkies in all.  They are discussing the next stage of their plans and clearly have a great chip on their soldiers about espers.  We are left with a unanimous vote to move forward.

I loved the sweet ending of the Uriharu threads for while she was losing her roommate it was clear that things would not be terrible for her.  It all had the nice ring of rightness and reality for the character we have come to know.

Now all I want, and I really need to see if Magical covers this cause I would prefer to see it sooner than later, is to have that entire room of evil minions exposed to say...a Railgun....about 6 times.  We can only hope.

[Anime] Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi/Sunday Without God: Ep 1

Valley of Death (1)

Ai, the little girl protagonist doesn't follow the usual magical girl tropes despite having what appears to be a magic shovel. She doesn't simper or whine or burst into comical tears. She does her duty and deals with the hand dealt her. It's pretty refreshing in that aspect.

Anyway, there's this super mysterious stranger in town and he kicks her in the face, because, you know, that's totally legit to do to small children. Especially after murdering the whole town. Yep.

Except, in a flashback, we find out that the world doesn't work that way. Instead of actually dying, people still roam around with hideous wounds (think the last season of Torchwood). God has abandoned the world, no one can die or have children. For fifteen years, the only solace and escape from the world was through burial by a grave-keeper. They alone have the magic to send the soul on.

Ai, who's mother was a grave-keeper, takes up the mantel after she passes. She was told that her father was the mysterious Hampnie Hambart (seriously, what sort of name is this?) and that he would come visit some day.

The mysterious stranger, of course, after this revelation, reveals that his name is, in fact, Hampnie Hambart. Ai's claim that he is her father is met with opposition after which, Hampnie asks her to accompany him in order to dig some graves and bury some people.

Some people happens to be the whole town, as mentioned above. She has an encounter with one villager who, despite missing half his face, is still mobile and carrying on a decent, albeit creepy, conversation.

This leads to the encounter from earlier in the episode, in which Ai is kicked in the face and knocked unconscious. Upon waking, she decides that Hampnie is a big douchebag and not her dad. She does her job, and buries the entire village as he watches. Afterwards, she follows him, having really no other course of action left to her. He tells her that she can't be a true grave-keeper. Ai has feelings and parents, both things which grave-keepers lack. Hampnie then introduces her to a real grave keeper who holds a monochrome scheme and none of Ai's vibrancy.

This anime is really good, you guys. If you haven't started watching it, I urge you to at least attempt it. There are only seven episodes so far, but you won't regret it.

RWBY Ep 5: First Step prt 2

The class is right where we left them, flying through the air to land on their own and survive the Emerald Forest.  For almost all the MCs to this point we see them do quite well.

Ruby, after apologizing to a disintegrated bird, uses Crescent Rose to absorb her speed in a tree branch.  Weiss uses what I believe to be air Dust skills to soften her own.  The two exceptions to flurried activity are Ren and Yang.

Ren calmly uses his near blades to twirl down a trunk and then just walks away as if waking from a nap, without a ruffle to his clothes at all!  Yang does not want to seem to land actually.  She giddily laughs her way as she launches herself farther and faster with her own gun discharges at the wrists.  Finally her usual flair comes at the end of her landing and she sprints off to find her partner.

Jaune of course is falling like any of us and screaming for help.  Fortunately the human battering ram, Pyrrha, turns her rifle into a harpoon and after a quick wind check, nails the poor lad to a tree.

After that we see Ruby tearing off into the forest looking for Yang, and for any fans of RT we see the hand of Jordan in Ruby's thoughts here, as she lists off her alternatives if she does not find her sister.

After going through all the people she has met thus far, she racks her mind for anyone else that might be compatible, and ends on the image above.  Weiss, non-plussed, turns off with the clear intention of ignoring Ruby.

Of course the next person she finds is Jaune hanging from the harpoon in the tree and without a word collects Ruby as a preferred alternative.  Something the young girl happily accepts without much encouragement.

Jaune is then found by Pyrrha who asks if has any openings on his team still.  Smirking at each other the obvious conclusion of another team is there for all to see.

Weiss is not thrilled and threatens Ruby to keep up at all costs.  For the first time we see her surprised in a good way by Ruby as she shows her skill in speed is amazing.  The tear through the woods must have been quite impressive to witness!  Ruby of course remains true to herself and says that after the Forest, Weiss will exclaim that Ruby is actually cool and would be a good friend.

After which of course the excited girl vanishes in a swirl of rose petals.  Weiss, not entirely unimpressed, but still flustered, reiterates that she is still wasting time as the bushes rustle around her.  Fear mounting in Weiss, we finally see the monsters from the prologue and leave the normally cold princess trembling as roars and red eyes surround her.

A very short episode, and I finally got the spellings right, but still in this case I think it is a good choice.  We had a LOT of development in a very quick succession and a lot more to go with the MCs we have not seen.  We still need to see Yang, Blake, Ren, and Nora form up into teams, given the credits I think we can call those as I wrote them though.

I look forward to some action after the character building, lord knows I actually want to see Weiss' jaw drop as Ruby slices and dices those monsters.  Till next time.

Anime: Attack on Titan Ep 19: Bite, 57th Expedition 3

Captain Levi drives his team onward from the fervently pursuing Female Titan in the forest of Giant Trees.  Despite the more desperate pleas from his squad for answers, he only tells them to cover their ears and launches what seems to be a flair.

Instead it is a sonic grenade that does seem to be uncomfortable for people to hear based on our characters reactions.  Meanwhile the rear guard continues to throw itself at the Female Titan and they might as well be ants for all the good it does beyond slowing her down.

Eren wishes for orders to attack, to stop the wonton slaughter of his fellow Recon Corps soldiers.  He keeps demanding answers or that they attack, but the squad tells him that Levi has given the order and they should move forward.

In his panicked state, Eren remembers he does not need a squad to stop a Titan.  He does not need to let his fellows die anymore.  He moves to bite his hand when Petra draws the attention of all to his actions.  They all heavily tell him he cannot disobey.

They tell him he has to move forward because Levi gave them the order.

However Levi himself tells them the truth about Eren.  Eren is a monster of a different source than any Titan.  Any cage, suppression, or act of force and he will not only resist but will never accept that limitation ever.  He also tells Eren his actions are not wrong, but he has to make a choice.  To only have faith in his skills alone, or have faith in his comrades who are making their choices on greater experiences.  

No one can know the consequences, but you must be ready to accept them after you make your choice.  Levi delivers the whole speech calmly and then tells Eren to choose.  Petra implores him to have faith and that triggers a flashback for us.

We see the squad first telling Eren how the experiments with his Titan power would go, that if he was out of control, their first step would be to remove him before killing him.  They show a clear outline that Eren would lose his hands and feet for sure in that case.

Understandably Eren is nervous, but accepts that this is how it will be.  Hanji sets up a dry well for a transformation experiment, but despite many bites to his hands that drew blood, Eren could not transform, nor heal his wounds.

Ironically it is an innocuous thing that finally works, a spoon falls and reacting out of instinct to reach for it, Eren creates an incomplete Titan form.  Hanji practically flips for joy and singes her hands on the exposed flesh.

The squad however flips the other way.  The scared faces and harsh demands that Eren prove he is actually an ally pile one on the other despite Levi trying to calm them down.  It is Eren himself who finally shouts them down and wrenches his right arm out of the partial construct to dissolve it.

Only later does Hanji reveal that the damage inflicted on Eren is part of the transformation trigger, he needs a goal as well.  It also seems to work for his healing as well but that is not as certain.  Upon the revelation of how unsure Eren is in his power, the squad bites their own hands, but are unable to draw blood.  They realize how much pain Eren puts up with and ask for his trust in them again.  To have faith in them.

Flash back to the present and Levi demands an answer, Eren smashes his eyes closed and puts faith in them.  They blaze ahead on their horses and Eren still watches the rear guard, he burns their cries and faces into his heart it seems.  

Finally the squad charges past a trap, and the Female Titan, so focused on Eren, realizes too late to avoid it.  She still has a moment to protect her weak point as Commander Erwin orders the ensnaring trap that finally stops her cold.

Levi leaves the squad with orders to hide Eren and cooly reveals his own anger at the rear guard sacrifice to stop this monster.  I think Levi really would have understood Eren's choice to become a Titan if he wanted, but respected more his choice to trust in Levi and the squad.

We are left with Levi and Erwin looking down at their captured foe and the Female Titan trying desperately to escape but barely able to move.  The cost was higher than it would have been for any other Titan, but unlike them, there is someone inside to rip out and demand answers from.

My nerves are not doing well and since I read ahead I know I will be just as bad next week.  Going to brew some decaf and put SAO on to relax after this one.

Anime: Attack on Titan Ep 18: Forest of Giant Trees, 57th Expedition (2)

The onslaught of the Female Titan continues.  We resume right after Reiner's miraculous escape and Armin seeing the Titan run off in the direction he believes Eren to actually be in the formation.

Our 3 survivors, while alive, are each facing troubling revelations.  Jean is desperately whistling for his wayward horse because with only Reiner's he knows someone will have to be left behind.  Despite both he and Reiner thinking there is a need to choose, Armin willingly offers to stay because of his injuries.

He is troubled by more than the Female Titan's intelligence and is about to pass along that info to Reiner when a small miracle appears.  Krista with 2 spare horses, one of which is Jean's.

She was able to find them by the emergency flare Armin told Jean to fire and the 3 of them are floored by her honest expression to be happy to find them all alive.  I believe Armin and Jean are just thrilled to be alive and saved and acknowledge she is not bad to look at all.  Reiner on the other hand wishes for her hand in marriage inside his own head, a thought that leaves him a bit shell shocked.

This rather light hearted moment makes a stark contrast for the montage of death the Female Titan rains down on the rest of the right flank.  We see exactly how dangerous a thinking Titan is because tactics that have worked before are useless against her.  She easily kills a 3 pronged attack that was well executed but makes no difference to her raw power properly used.

We also see the oddity of Armin even more as she almost sadistically kills the 3 man team and its leader.  We see even more soldiers ride to try and stop her, but it all ends the same, they are left for dead and the formation must fire its flares.

Rather than retreat or alter course for a more direct route to Eren's basement, all of our MCs note that they are instead heading for the Forest of Giant Trees.  It is a literal name of trees that are at least twice the height of a 15m Titan.  An excellent place to go in the wild areas Titans roam where the 3D gear can be put to far deadlier use.

The oddities pile up as only the central column advances while the regrouping recruits and soldiers flank out to the left and right of the forest.  Only Armin puts together the actual reason of the whole expedition.  The odd explanation of the plan and revealing Eren's true goal in reclaiming Wall Maria as well.

Commander Erwin was TRYING to flush out a Titan like Eren, only one that works against humanity rather for it.  The Colossal would have been unlikely but the Armored Titan was probably on the likely list.

Ordered to prevent any other Titans from entering the forest, they look on as they realize they are just stalling bait.  They are enough concentration of humans to keep the more common Titans at bay just by staying in the higher branches until they receive fresh orders or choose to retreat.

Meanwhile in the central corridor, Eren realizes that the true intent of this mission was hidden not only from him, but from his entire squad as well.  Levi calmly tells him to work it out himself using his "tiny brain," but as the fear becomes evident on his comrades, Eren wonders if even Levi knows what is going on.

With only a single black flare as warning, Eren watches in horror as the Female Titan closes in, slaughtering the rear guard and violently trying to get at him.  Unlike the other times we have seen her, she now appears to be smiling.

We are left in a cliff hanger, of course, as Eren's squad demands orders from Levi to attack over and over.  Levi calmly turns around and tells them to cover their ears as he fires a flare gun.

The next episode could give me an ulcer, as I have read ahead and it seems to be unfolding on a similar path.  However there is a potential for a flash back episode or two as well even amidst this action.

As always I am left with the frustration of waiting for this excellent story to unfold in either form and it is being done well!  I think I will await a few revelations and come back to this episode as well for those that prefer anime to manga, so as not to spoil things!  Until next time.

Rooster Teeth: RWBY Ep 4: First Step

Sigh, it would seem I must appease the Internet Gods some more for good photo skills, that and acquire said skills.

Posts must continue however!

Sleep over finished, we hop over to a new character, Nora, who seems to need a dose of decaf...soon.  Her style of clothes suggest she might be heavy on the comedic relief, her lightning speed verbalism also indicates a need to rewind on occasion to catch it all.  She is amusing however for her own introduction.

The majority of her energies, and life goals, focus on a rather laid back character in green by the name of Ren.  He seems to just be rolling through his preparations for the upcoming Teams event and arming himself.  Appropriately he is voiced by the creator of this world, especially compared to the energetic storm of Nora.

We get the gist of long term connection and the upcoming activity being the selection of Teams for Beacon from these two.

Ruby and Yang have a mild sibling moment that is spot on in real life.  A younger sibling, so used to being part of the older's life, thinks to extend this into school.  Of course anyone who is an older sibling knows we make an unconscious wall between home life and school life that is not addressed until said moment.  In this case it is fairly harmless, but it shows again the differences between the sisters.

Yang is very social with people, and while loving her sister, wants to meet more.  Ruby is confident in her skills, but likes to keep her social world comfortable if at all possible.  Jean seems in desperate need of a life line also in this moment.

He takes us passed Weiss, who is seemingly focused on recruiting Pura, an Amazonian warrior if I ever saw one, to her Team.  We again get an idea of how focused Weiss is at being not only the top student at Beacon, but the perception of it as well.  She puts great store by reputation and expectation.

Jean blithely tries to get Weiss to come to his Team as well.  I admit I was cracking up and cringing in equal parts.  Sadly I WAS Jean in as much as I knew just as little about talking to girls wisely at that age!  Still, Pura shows an almost lackadaisical interest in who is on her Team.

She seems fine with whoever she ends up with, but oddly follows Weiss' order to send Jean flying across the locker room.  It is a hard read on Pura, on one hand she seems straight forward, but on the other she just seems to not care too.

Jean then reveals that his clumsy attempts were all to be done with confidence, and Yang reveals that "Snow Princess" might have been a very bad choice of pet name for Weiss.

Flash to a lovely hill where our group is now on metal platforms in front of Glinda and Ozbin.  There are 2 more as yet unnamed detailed males bringing the group total to 9 we see there.  Given the work to fill these guys out, I presume we will get to know them as well, I also note a lack of Blake, but she is there most likely.

Dryly, Ozbin explains that the students must cross the Emerald Forest to an old Temple and seek the relics within.  The selection of Teams is both more straightforward, and more random, than imagined.

All the students are to be launched into the air and land to the best of their ability.  The first person they make eye contact with will be there Teammate for the next 4 years.  As individual students are launched, Jean asks why he is missing his parachute, but Ozbin calmly sips his coffee and tells him to use his own landing skills to make it.

We are left watching all the students hanging in the sky, and aside from the most obvious Team I think we all expect, I wonder how the others will combine together.  Of course I should not underestimate the element of surprise from Monty and Crew.  Certainly the cast is expanding and I am starting to get more excited to see what will come!

Now if I could just get some blasted photos!

Anime: Attack on Titan: Ep 17: Female Titan, 57th Expedition Beyond the Walls (1)

Last episode painted the grim picture of what it is actually like to be on the Recon Corps.  This episode exemplifies the experience fully!

As outlined in previous episodes, the 57th expedition to begin making a route to Eren's home, is more training and exploring as outlined to the new recruits, but deadly dangerous.  We see exactly how quickly out of the gate Titans appear, and worse how the massively helpful 3D gear is rendered useless by the open lands beyond the towns.

When all you have is a moving target bent on eating you, the gear that would save your life behind the wall, is basically dead weight beyond it.  Still, we see that the skills taught to our favorite cadets are not in complete vain.  Also some heroic attacks against Aberrants.

The sound strategy to avoid Titans is not workable either as they can be lying in wait, or in this case, not a true Titan at all.

We finally see the female Titan from the opener, and she is a bit like the Colossal Titan in more than appearance.  She quickly nulls an attack against her, but unlike the other Titans, kills only to kill, not consume.  Armin is unlucky enough to run into her and assumes the worst after watching the ease of his comrade's deaths.

But as he notes she is much like Eren, she shows it by gently lifting his hood and staring him in the face.  Rather than kill him, she dismisses him as no threat and moves on quickly.

Reiner and Jean quickly join up with Armin and pursue this dangerous foe.  After a quick assertion of goals to slow her, Armin realizes her goal is Eren and surviving.  Anything that slows her down is attacked, but otherwise ignored.

Worse, they realize the right flank was annihilated by Titans led to them by this traitorous woman.  Whoever she is (if you have read the manga hush now!), they have to only slow her for the yellow flares to do their work.

While the expected risky attack goes badly, we see Armin shine boldly here.  He screams what seems gibberish to Jean, but stops the Titan cold in her tracks, saving his life in the process.  Reiner takes this chance to attack, but the Titan recovers quickly.

Armin and Jean both think Reiner is gone, but instead he slices his way out of her grasp at the last moment.  Chagrined that compared to Mikasa they are all dullards, Jean recalls that Reiner was an incredibly powerful soldier as well.

All 3 head off after their battle as the Titan recovers, but just as they think all is well, Armin sees the female Titan inexplicably head straight for where he believes Eren to be in the formation.

After the breather of the last episode action wise, we are literally thrown back into the deepend, and see how all of man's advances are not nearly enough to combat these monsters in the open.

Armin himself thinks that only Levi and Mikasa would have a prayer against something like the female Titan.  While this is but a whetting of the appetite for those that have looked ahead, I would say the pace of this episode takes us back to the nail biting moments of Trost and even Eren's trial.

Now we wait for the next revelations, and see if Eren will be able to control his new abilities against someone possibly just like him!

Anime: A Certain Scientific Railgun S: Ep 17: Study Group

The Sisters are safe and Misaka returns to a much more normal life.  She still checks up on them with the help of her favorite frog faced doctor, but even with the sad news that their lives are shorter than a normal humans, they should get a portion of it back to enjoy as much as any walking Railguns can do.

Saten is hosting a study group, while officially such, she plans to try and entice Misaka to explain who the home baked cookies were for.

We see a quite hilarious flashback of Saten and Misaka baking the cookies Toma never quite received.  Misaka also seems to show a welcome return to her everyday life and Kuroko will no longer be eating alone it seems either.

Of course with the return to a more normal life we see a much lighter cross section, with Kuroko having a small side adventure to a pet shop (and thinking turtle of all things being good for the study group!).  We also see Uriharu being defeated by a book report while ensnaring high grade hackers to a trap server.

All in all there are many smiles and good feels throughout the episode.  We do get an awesome clash of Level 5s and their less than stable sidekicks at a restaurant, I was in tears.  There is a hint that Uriharu's living situation is not as happy as it once was, but for once Magical Index does not give us a clear road of what that may be.

After the dark and traumatic twists of Accelerator vs the Sisters, this was a welcome breath of fresh air.  Hope abounds and smiles seem likely to return to all the friends of Misaka.  Of course if you have followed Magical Index, you know there is more to come for the Railgun and her friends, and Accelerator is not done with the Sisters either.

I look forward to the new portions and maybe we will finally know some things from Misaka's POV that in Toma's we were denied!

RWBY Ep 3: Welcome to Beacon Prt 2

I apologize in advance for lack of pictures, I am appealing to higher powers for better sources/knowledge to make snag something more relevant for my posts.  Moving on.

We pick up with Ruby and Jon finding their way into the welcoming ceremony at Beacon.  Yang snags Ruby back to her side and does not quite believe the story of her sister blowing up a perfect strangers luggage.

Weiss does the classic come from behind move as Ruby expounds her embarrassing moment to Yang.  We get a rundown of more attitude from the white princess here (I assure you the description is accurate).  She also commands Ruby to learn the proper safety regulations concerning Dust with a handy pamphlet.

Ozbin makes a rather terse announcement to the crowd about the contrast between the hopes of the new students and the wasted energy he sees out among them.  The students are then informed they will be starting tomorrow after resting this evening on the school grounds.

At this point I think most parents would flip, but of course is par for the course in anime.  The ENTIRE group sleeps in the same room, and we see a great deal of more detailed characters as opposed to the silhouettes before.

Yang is a LOT more comfortable in direct confrontation and jumping to new goals than Ruby, as demonstrated when Ruby recognizes Blake from earlier and Yang immediately drags her over.

However, Ruby shows more interest in actually getting to know Blake than Yang seems to.  I even see a decent beginning to how Blake expects to be reacted to and Ruby surprises her.  Of course the quartet gets completed by an irate Weiss.  If we see her smile it will be a shocking moment.

Blake ends the slumber party by blowing out her candles as Yang, Ruby, and Weiss have a mini-argument about getting things quiet so people can sleep.

I nice end to the intro here, a few hints of more characters to come we saw in the opening and a better idea of Blake and Weiss both.  I am hopeful we might see some longer episodes as well very soon.